There was something unnerving about the way Lyanna was looking at them.
The woman they knew had always been easy to bully—a weak, timid girl who flinched at loud noises and had no backbone.
They knew her wolf form was small and pathetic, nothing like the majestic creature a Luna was supposed to possess.
But the woman standing before them now had eyes that were sharp and cold, filled with a terrifyingly clear intelligence.
Lyanna opened her mouth to speak. She wanted to ask for their names.
She was a total stranger in this land, and she didn't even know what her own name was in this life, though she suspected it might be the same.
She figured if they questioned her memory loss, she could easily blame it on the trauma of her fall.
But before a single word could leave her lips, a white-hot spike of pain tore through her skull.
It was a heart-rending, agonizing sensation, as if her brain was being split in two.
She collapsed to her knees, clutching her head and letting out a ragged groan of pure torment.
The maids panicked, but not out of concern.
"What's wrong? What is happening to you?" the first girl asked, her voice skeptical. "Is this another trick? Are you trying to play another game to get attention?"
The second maid grabbed her companion's arm, pulling her back toward the door. "Let's just go. This is beyond us. Let's go get Alpha Cedric and the healer girl. They'll be able to tell if she's just pretending or if she's actually dying this time."
The first girl nodded, her face hardening. "You're right. Let them deal with her drama."
Without another word, they turned and fled the room, leaving Lyanna alone, hunched over on the floor.
The pain didn't subside. It intensified. Lyanna felt as if her very soul was being tugged in two different directions.
It was a spiritual battle for territory. Her facial expressions shifted rapidly—one moment twisted into a mask of cold, calculated malice, the next crumbling into a grimace of pure agony.
It felt as if the original owner of the body was a ghost that refused to leave the premises.
"Since you're already dead and I'm already in this body, just leave it to me!" Lyanna growled through clenched teeth, her voice echoing off the stone walls.
"You didn't want your life anyway! You tried to throw it away! Why are you trying to take it back from me now?"
The remnant of the original soul seemed to lash out in response, a final, desperate surge of energy that made Lyanna's vision go dark.
It was a battle of wills. Lyanna realized that this ghost wasn't just clinging to life out of fear; she was clinging to it out of unfinished business.
"Did you have an unresolved issue?" Lyanna gasped, her forehead pressed against the cool wooden floor.
"If you do, leave it to me. I promise you, I will make sure I avenge you. Please, believe me. This new life is important to me. I want to live. I know you have no way to make sure I keep my word once you're gone, but I swear it. I will help you get revenge. You just have to let go and tell me what happened!"
As if the plea had been heard, the pressure suddenly vanished. The violent throbbing in her head began to fade into a dull hum.
Lyanna took a long, shaky breath, feeling the ghost of the other woman finally dissolve into the corners of her mind.
But the relief was short-lived. A new kind of pain, sharp but brief, flashed behind her eyes.
In an instant, a flood of memories that were not her own began to pour into her consciousness.
It was like a movie being played at a thousand times the normal speed.
She sat on the floor, leaning her back against the bed frame, letting the foreign images and emotions settle into her mind.
When the mental dust finally settled, Lyanna let out a cold, cynical snicker.
The memories revealed the truth behind the "pathetic" Luna.
Everyone in the pack believed she was afraid of her husband, Cedric Nightbane.
And why wouldn't she be? Cedric was a mountain of a man, intimidating, dangerous, and the Alpha of a powerful clan.
The original Lyanna—whose name was indeed Lyanna Blackwood—had been a gentle soul who dreamed of a fated mate, a kind man who would cherish her.
Instead, she had been bartered away by a cruel stepmother.
She had been forced into a marriage with a man who wasn't her mate, a man she perceived as a monster.
But the memories showed that Cedric wasn't actually the source of her misery.
He was a distant, stern figure, but he hadn't been the one to break her.
The real villain in the original Lyanna's life was Avelina Woodcrest, the pack's healer.
Avelina was the "sweet" girl of the pack, the one everyone adored and hoped would one day marry the Alpha.
But in the privacy of the Luna's quarters, Avelina was a demon.
She hated Lyanna with a burning, obsessive passion.
She had spent every single day tormenting the girl, using her position as a healer to exert control.
The two maids who had just left? They were Avelina's spies.
They had been hand-picked to make Lyanna feel like she wasn't even human, let alone a wolf.
They had gaslighted her, bullied her, and convinced the entire pack that she was a coward who hated her husband.
Even the final "escape" that led to the original Lyanna jumping off the mountain had been a trap set by Avelina.